Page 44 - Australian Defence Magazine Oct 2020

44 BOOKS OF INTEREST
OCTOBER 2020 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
COMPILED BY PETER MASTERS | BRISBANE
WWW.MILITARYBOOKSAUSTRALIA.WORDPRESS.COM
THE BIG BOOK OF AUSTRALIA’S WAR STORIES A COLLECTION OF STORIES OF AUSTRALIA’S ICONIC BATTLES, HEROES AND CAMPAIGNS FROM THE BOER WAR TO VIETNAM
By Jim Haynes
Published by Allen & Unwin
RRP $32.99 in paperback
ISBN 9781760875619
Jim Haynes has chosen to present his collection of stories (and poems) in five parts: Fighting the Boers; Fighting
the Kaiser; Fighting the Fuhrer; Fighting the Emperor and
TAKING THE LEAD
THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE 1972 - 1996
By Mark Lax
Published by Big Sky Publishing
RRP $34.99 in hardback ISBN 9781922265951
This is the third volume of
the RAAF Official History Collection, the earlier books being The Third Brother (1921- 1939) by Chris Coulthard-Clark (1991) and Going Solo (1946- 1971) by Dr Alan Stephen (1997). This third book begins just as Australia’s commitment to the Vietnam war ends. The
Fighting the Communists.
Each part contains stories relevant to that period, covering topics most Australians ‘know happened but don’t really know much about’. This book is not intended for those readers seeking detailed histories
of battles but it will satisfy those who are looking for an overview of Australia’s military engagements from Federation to the Vietnam War. Haynes has included stories associated with such familiar names as Breaker Morant, Albert Jacka, Charles Kingsford Smith and Nancy Wake, to name but a few. The battles of Gallipoli, Beersheba, Tobruk, El Alamein, Kokoda and Long Tan are household names, although Haynes feels their historical significance may have been lost. Other campaigns covered in this collection are barely remembered today. As part
of our military history, these stories deserve to be retold.
next 25 years were to be a period of significant change and downsizing for the RAAF, marked particularly by reviews and restructuring, beginning with replacing the Minister for Air with a Minister for Defence covering all three services. But this did not stop the territorial clashes between the RAAF and other services. Lax outlines the Army’s argument to control the air support it needed itself, dating from its Vietnam experience and the RAAF’s counter complaint
that Army did not understand the difficulties of conducting high tempo operations with limited numbers of aircraft. Army won that round with the establishment of the 1st Aviation Regiment. Lax has produced a fascinating and very thorough examination
of this period in the RAAF’s history, which should be required reading for future Defence leaders.
MEETING SADDAM’S MEN
LOOKING FOR IRAQ’S WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
By Ashton Robinson
Published by Big Sky Publishing RRP $34.99 in paperback
ISBN 9781922265524
This book is Ashton Robinson’s eye-witness account of the
Iraq Survey Group’s (ISG) operations in Iraq. The group’s task was to search for weapons of mass destruction or to account for them if they did
not exist. Robinson was part of the 3rd Australian Contingent,
THE DRAGONS AND THE SNAKES
HOW THE REST LEARNED
TO FIGHT THE WEST
By David Kilcullen Published by Scribe
RRP $35.00 in paperback ISBN 9781925849158
In this timely book, David Kilcullen explains what happened to the ‘snakes’ – the non-state threats from terrorists and guerrillas – and the ‘dragons’, state-based competitors such as Russia and China, who have watched on
as the US struggled, firstly in Afghanistan, and then in Iraq. As
comprising a team of 10. He did not support the war in Iraq nor did he believe that WMDs existed to any significant degree in Iraq, a view he says was widely shared among
DIO personnel. While never actually meeting Saddam, he writes he was far from the broken man of media depiction, rather a man concerned with his legacy and with a low opinion of other Arab leaders. Robinson also reveals the ‘chain of bogus intelligence’ fed to Washington from expatriate Iraqis. He acknowledges what became obvious: that the Bush Administration was clueless
in understanding post-war reconstruction, leaving behind a country in turmoil and social collapse. But this story is not just about the Iraq War; it’s a rare look into Australia’s allied intelligence relations, and the international politics, intrigue and corruption surrounding
the war.
a combat veteran of these wars, Kilcullen is recounting events
in which he has participated
as a decision-maker. He also explores the growing influence
of competitive nation-states taking advantage of the West’s preoccupation with terrorism. He covers a number of topics, for example, Russia’s intervention in Crimea, Ukraine and elsewhere and China’s approach to ‘warfare’ that may now be so broad as to present a ‘bandwidth challenge for the US and other Western countries’. Which raises the question: Is Australia seeking
to equip itself with advanced weapons for a type of war that belongs in the past? And are we seeing the inevitable decline of the West? Without doubt, he believes the West is facing a complex global arena devoid of past certainties. This book should be essential reading for anyone concerned about America’s future and Australia’s place in the global order it created. ■